Fiery Fish Tacos (or Nachos) with Two Salsas

Yup, TWO salsas. Combine them when eating, or use one at a time.

This takes a little bit of time to prepare, so be patient.

(BTW, this was what I was working on when my trusty rusty camera failed on me. Around January. Suddenly the pics overexposed on its own, there were white vertical lines on evry single one, and the image blurred. I just tried to fix them in Photoshop)

Ok, Salsa 1: Cruchy Corn and Jicama Salsa

Jicama is simply "singkamas". Get about 2 fist-sized ones and dice into tiny cubes. Mix in a cup of corn kernels. Get a small red onion, two (or more) green chilis, a small bell pepper (save about a fourth of this for the other salsa), and a bunch of cilantro. Finely dice everything and put in a large bowl with the jicama and corn. Take a lemon, or lime, scrape some zest into the mix and slice and squeeze the juice. Season with salt and a little pepper. You can choose to sprinkle a bit of cayenne pepper. Leave in the ref for an hour so the flavors meld.

Salsa 2: Basic Tomato Salsa

Just mix together finely diced tomatoes, a small red onion, green chilis (2 or more), bell pepper (just a little saved from Salsa 1), cilantro, lemon juice, a teaspoon of sugar, salt and pepper. Leave in the ref so the flavors come together.

Hot Fish rub (In order of amount, from more to less): Make sure to make enough to coat the fish fillet well.

Mix together garlic powder, ground white pepper, salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, chili powder and turmeric. Sprinkle on fish fillet (dory or tilapia) and rub a little to even out. Fry in a little olive oil for about 3 minutes each side. Put in a small dish and flake.Done!

To eat, get some tacos, put some flaked fish, add the jicama and corn salsa, then the tomato salsa, then a little yogurt!Or get a small plate, put some fish, add the jicam and corn salsa, then the tomato salsa, then a little yogurt, and scoop with nachos.

Put some tabasco sauce if you want it even hotter. And some finely sliced cabage.

Hey!

My fault. I've been a little lazy writing down and documenting my experiments. BUT, I still cook and experiment. A lot. It's just that my camera's getting very old and the last time I used it, it conked out on me! And when I'm cooking, I forget to take pictures. So until I get a new small camera, (yes, I only want the pocket-sized camera so it's not too bulky to carry around) my posts will be less and far between. Unless I get a new one, NOW. Haha.

(The picture isn't my camera. I just photoshopped a photo of a broken camera that kinda looks like mine)

Sweet Sautéed Mung Bean Sprouts

Very simple side dish. Just stir-fry some sliced onions in a little sesame oil, throw in about a tablespoonful of roasted sesame seeds, add the cleaned-up bean sprouts (oops, I missed some root tips there), sprinkle a little bit of mirin and a pinch of sugar and salt. Keep stirring, letting the sprouts wilt just a little bit and the mirin's alcohol to evaporate. And it's done!

Lumpiang Shanghai, Hubad

Lumpia without the rice wrapper. Nothing fancy. All there is to do is mix the ingredients together, roll it up into balls or like what I did, into a very unappealing shape. Hehe.It's my mom's recipe. Then I added a few more ingredients. I forget the proportions. Mix everything in a bowl: grated turnip and grated carrot (squeeze out the juice!), finely chopped celery (better if it's Chinese celery), chopped shrimps, chopped spring onions, chopped onions, some salt, and ground pork. Leave for a few minutes to let the flavor set. Add an egg or 2, shape, roll in a little flour and fry away!It's good to dip it in sweet chili-garlic sauce. Or sweet-sour sauce. Or catsup.

November 12, 2009

Korean Not-Beef BBQ, plus plus

Somebody taught me this recipe a long time ago. Back in college. I think that was Toto Labrador. I looked again in the internet if it was really a recipe for Korean BBQ. Yup, it's called Bulgogi. (If I'm mistaken, sorry.) Hmm, there are variations but the some basic ingredients are common. Thanks Toto!

Now, to twist the recipe a bit. I'm not going to use beef, I'll use pork so I can brown it without making it tough. Cut the pork in bite-size pieces and marinate it in a little soy sauce, brown sugar, chopped ginger, chopped spring onions, crushed garlic, and sesame oil. I usually add one ingredient at a time, massaging each into the meat. Makes me believe the flavor gets better that way. Haha. The sesame oil is the last. What you'll have should not be a soupy marinated pork. The marinade should just coat the meat evenly, and stick to it.
Leave it for an hour or better, a whole day and fry in a little oil, but very hot. That's it! Oops, this is one of those times that I forgot to take a photo of the cooked food.

When I made this, I made 2 more dishes to go with it. First, I cut up some leeks and spring onions and mixed them in a beaten egg/pinch of flour/salt mixture and fried it. Just make a vinegar/soy sauce mix for dip.
The next one, I chopped some cabbage, carrots and Baguio beans into small pieces and stir-fried it with a lot of garlic and onions in sesame oil, and added a little salt and sugar.That's it!

November 9, 2009

Sathan's BBQ Ribs

I was in front of the kitchen counter staring at the thawed pork ribs, 7pm. After a few more red water dripped from the side of the ribs, I thought "Whatever. Just as long as I make this easy." I grabbed whatever sauce and seasoning we had and just baked. Luckily, it turned out fine. Just had to do a little "retouching" and a little cheat :-)

Here's what I did: From staring at the pork ribs for quite some, I guessed it was about more than a kilo. So I thought about less than a cup of total sauce would be enough to flavor it. 2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce, 1/3 cup of soy sauce, 3 tbsps of tomato catsup, 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper, 2 tbsps of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsps of olive oil and a teaspoonful of hot sauce. Mixed them all together and slobbered it all over the ribs. (Hey, this is the "balanced" flavor I thought was right, ok? You can always do your own proportions.)

I set the ribs on a foil-lined tray, covered with another sheet of foil and baked at 180˚C for an hour. (Next time, I'll bake it longer.)

I thought that was it but when I pulled it out of the oven, all the juice was in the tray. So I cheated. I took the sauce and reduced it on the stove and poured it back onto the ribs. Done!November 2, 2009. (The fire photo is not mine.)

Hey!

Been some time since I posted anything here. Time for a little filler -- makes me feel somewhat useful and productive. :-)

It's not that I haven't been experimenting on the stove. I have. I'm just not very happy with the shots I took. It's always been night time that I decide on a whim to cook something, so the photos are too dark, and look uninspired. And some of the food look like shit, literally. Time for a little Photoshop, hehe.

Soon, I'll be needing some new food shots. I should start experimenting more.

But hey, the food wasn't bad. Still tasted good to me. I'm thinking of names like: Sathan's Baked BBQ Ribs, Lumpiang Shanghai Hubad, and Korean Not-Beef BBQ. :-)